Opinion

Cyrenians CEO Ewan Aitken outlines his questions for candidates in the upcoming council elections. The news that we face a snap Westminster election fills me with, at best, mixed emotions. I relish the opportunity to challenge the philosophy which has brought us welfare reforms that are demonstrably

Daradjeet Jagpal The Scottish Government published a consultation document in December 2016, seeking views on whether the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) should be extended to Scottish registered social landlords (RSLs). Consultation responses have now been received, 73 of which h

Marian Reid As a new revised Scottish Social Housing Charter comes into force, CIH Scotland's deputy director Marian Reid blogs about the important new emphasis on tenant scrutiny.

Mandy Catterall Government relations manager Mandy Catterall gives the Scottish Property Federation’s take on the coming changes in the planning system.

Scotland needs a planning system which nurtures growth and unlocks the potential of our people and places according to the Scottish Government. So what can we, or should we, expect from the draft planning bill which is expected to be introduced in the autumn, asks Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie’

Nicola Sturgeon First Minister Nicola Sturgeon encourages more people to take part in the Scottish Government’s Social Security Experience Panels.

Dr Beth Watts In the current political crisis-ridden, post-‘welfare reform’ context and given impressive changes to homelessness legislation elsewhere in the UK, Scotland’s claim to be a world-leader on homelessness may be weakening. Beth Watts identifies three areas where Scotland can raise i

Jimmy Black In sheltered housing you get a pendant to call the warden. Outside sheltered housing, you get telecare. Two very different things, bought by two very different departments, under two very different procurement regimes?

Putting people with lived experience of homelessness at the centre of the solution is key, writes Ewan Aitken as he blogs on Shelter Scotland’s Homelessness Conference. I was very pleased to be asked to chair the Shelter Scotland Homelessness Conference last week. It’s the kind of thing I really

Andrew Leslie Many housebuilders and property developers hold an unfortunate perception around the extension of Community Right-to-Buy, introduced by the Scottish Government last year.

Jacqueline Norwood Jacqueline Norwood is a housing consultant with more than 20 years of experience working in the Scottish housing sector. This year, she will chair HouseMark Scotland’s Tenancy Sustainability Specialist Club. She reflects on her own experiences and what these have taught her abou

Ashley Campbell By Ashley Campbell, policy and practice manager at CIH Scotland

Lisa Glass On Thursday 16th March, the Scottish Government released two sets of poverty statistics, on how many people live in poverty and on how many people live in ‘persistent poverty’, in other words, have been in poverty for three of the last four years.

Russell Young ‘Old habits die hard’ goes the expression and nowhere does this appear to be truer than in the area of estate inspections by social landlords. A recent HouseMark survey found that two thirds of social landlords still log their inspection reports manually on-site with pen and paper

The UK’s communities secretary Sajid Javid started the year with a visit to the Netherlands and Germany to look at how self- and custom-build homes can make a contribution to the enduring challenge of adequate housing delivery. This comes hot on the heels of the Scottish Government’s recent conf